Merleau-Ponty between Philosophy and Symbolism

Rajiv Kaushik

Description

Merleau-Ponty says in his Institution and Passivity lectures that he wants to "consider criticism itself as a symbolic form" instead of doing "a philosophy of symbolic form." This invites the possibility of an unconventional thought: If critical philosophy is a symbolic form, it cannot disclose its own limits and is, in fact, uncritical. Furthermore, the symbolic form can never itself be thought according to the terms of the criticism it produces but is always only constellated and matrixed within them—a symbolic form within both reflection and what it reflects on, within consciousness and the world. Thus, as Rajiv Kaushik argues, the symbolic form is another name for what Merleau-Ponty calls ontological divergence. Only now divergence introduces the question of a limit to both the subject and philosophy itself. This is nothing less than a psychoanalysis of philosophy.

Kaushik's analyses of the matrices between space—imagination, light—dark, awake—asleep, and repression—expression reveal this symbolism in its form of divergence, its lack of origin and destination. Kaushik also argues that the phenomenology of symbolism must detour from the purely descriptive method. Drawing from Merleau-Ponty's recently published course materials, and attentive to his reliance on literature and literary language, Merleau-Ponty between Philosophy and Symbolism continues the living force of Merleau-Ponty's thought and develops his radical insight of the primacy of the symbolic form, even in an ontology that claims to be about the sensible and its elements.
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Matrix Events and Institution
Sedimentation and Symbolism in Institution
Symbolic Forms and Elemental Being
Outline of Chapters

1. Matrix Events: Methods and Antecedents
The Homeric Diphthong
The Platonic Dividing-Collecting
The Merleau-Pontian ecart
Interrogative Method and ecart
Ecart and Division in Heraclitus
λόγος and ἁπτόμενον in Heraclitus
Some Remaining Questions

2. Space—Imagination
Abstract Geometrical Essences, Morphological Ideals, and Phantasy in Husserl
The Role of Imagination in the Substruction of Essences
Sculptural Shapes and the Space of Imagination
Beyond Sight and Image
Some Remaining Questions

3. Light—Dark/Awake—Asleep
The Light—Dark Opposition in Jean-Luc Nancy
Light—Dark and Elementality
Waking—Sleeping
Dark Sleep
Some Remaining Questions

4. Philosophy—Symbolism
Dreams and Passivity
The Positive Symbol
The Positive Symbol and Psyche
The Positive Symbol, Psyche, and λέγειν
The Positive Symbol in Philosophy: Analysis and the Analyzed
Some Remaining Questions

5. Philosophical Language—Literary Language
Ontology, Not Metaphorical Ontology
Finding a Hermeneutical Reverie with Proust
Some Remaining Questions

Conclusion
Sedimentation, Elementality
The Different Politics of Metaphor and Symbolism
Politics, History, and Elements

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Épistémologie
• Philosophie de l'esprit
• Esthétique et philosophie de l'art
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 18 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438476773
• Langue: English

Extrait

Merleau-Ponty between Philosophy and Symbolism
SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy
Dennis J. Schmidt. editor
Merleau-Ponty between Philosophy and Symbolism
The Matrixed Ontology
Rajiv Kaushik
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2019 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kaushik, Rajiv, author.
Title: Merleau-Ponty between philosophy and symbolism : the matrixed ontology / Rajiv Kaushik.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2019] | Series: SUNY series in contemporary continental philosophy | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018058274 | ISBN 9781438476759 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438476773 (ebk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, 1908-1961. | Ontology. | Identity (Philosophical concept)
Classification: LCC B2430.M3764 K385 2019 | DDC 194--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018058274
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Matrix Events and Institution
Sedimentation and Symbolism in Institution
Symbolic Forms and Elemental Being
Outline of Chapters
Chapter 1. Matrix Events: Methods and Antecedents
The Homeric Diphthong
The Platonic Dividing-Collecting
The Merleau-Pontian écart
Interrogative Method and écart
Écart and Division in Heraclitus
λόγος and ἁπτόμενον in Heraclitus
Some Remaining Questions
Chapter 2. Space—Imagination
Abstract Geometrical Essences, Morphological Ideals, and Phantasy in Husserl
The Role of Imagination in the Substruction of Essences
Sculptural Shapes and the Space of Imagination
Beyond Sight and Image
Some Remaining Questions
Chapter 3. Light—Dark/Awake—Asleep
The Light—Dark Opposition in Jean-Luc Nancy
Light—Dark and Elementality
Waking—Sleeping
Dark Sleep
Some Remaining Questions
Chapter 4. Philosophy—Symbolism
Dreams and Passivity
The Positive Symbol
The Positive Symbol and Psyche
The Positive Symbol, Psyche, and λέγειν
The Positive Symbol in Philosophy: Analysis and the Analyzed
Some Remaining Questions
Chapter 5. Philosophical Language—Literary Language
Ontology, Not Metaphorical Ontology
Finding a Hermeneutical Reverie with Proust
Some Remaining Questions
Conclusion
Sedimentation, Elementality
The Different Politics of Metaphor and Symbolism
Politics, History, and Elements
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Abbreviations Ép/ IPP : Éloge de la Philosophie et autres essais (France: Gallimard, 1960), translated by John O’Neill as In Praise of Philosophy and Other Essays (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1970). Hes : “Préface,” in A. Hesnard, L’Œuvre de Freud , 5–10 (France: Payot, 1960), translated by Alden L. Fisher as “Phenomenology and Psychoanalysis: Preface to  Hesnard’s   L’Oeuvre  de Freud,” Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry 18 (1982): 67–72. HT : Humanisme et terreur, essai sur le problème communiste (France: Gallimard, 1947), translated by John O’Neill as Humanism and Terror: An Essay on the Communist Problem , translated by John O’Neill (Boston: Beacon Press, 1969). IP : L’Institution, Passivité: Notes de Cours au Collège de France (1954–1955) (France: Éditions Belin, 2003), translated by Leonard Lawlor and Heath Massey as Institution and Passivity: Course Notes from the Collège de France (1954–1955) (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2010). MPR : The Merleau-Ponty Reader , edited by Ted Toadvine and Leonard Lawlor (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2007). N : La Nature, Notes, Cours du Collège de France (France: Seuil, 1995), translated by Robert Vallier as Nature: Course Notes from the Collège de France (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2003). NC : Notes de cours: 1958–1959 et 1960–1961 (France: Gallimard, 1996). OE/EM: L’Œil et l’esprit (France: Gallimard, 1964), translated as “Eye and Mind” in Primacy of Perception and Other Essays , edited by James E. Edie (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1964). Par : Parcours deux, 1951–1961 (France: Verdier, 2000). PNP : Philosophy and Non-Philosophy Since Merleau-Ponty , edited by Hugh J. Silverman (United Kingdom: Routledge, 1988). PP : Phénoménologie de la perception (France: Gallimard, 1945), translated by Colin Smith as Phenomenology of Perception (United Kingdom: Routledge, 1992). PrP : Le Primat de la perception et ses conséquences philosophiques (France: Verdier, 1996) translated as Primacy of Perception and Other Essays , edited by James E. Edie (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1964). PW : La Prose du monde (France: Gallimard, 1969), translated by John O’Neill as The Prose of the World (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1973). RLL : Recherches sur l’usage littéraire du langage: Cours au Collège de France Notes, 1953 , (Switzerland: MētisPresses, 2013). S : Signes (France: Gallimard, 1960), translated by Richard C. Mcleary as Signs (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1964). SNS : Sens et non-sens (France: Gallimard, 1996), translated by Hubert L. Dreyfus and Patricia Allen Dreyfus as Sense and Non-sense (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1964). VI : Le Visible et l’invisible, suivi de notes de travail (France: Gallimard, 1964), translated by Alphonso Lingis as The Visible and the Invisible (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1968).
Note: French pagination is cited first, then the English.
Acknowledgments
I would like to begin by thanking the International Merleau-Ponty Circle and its members. The Merleau-Ponty Circle is my intellectual home and much of my development is thanks to its investment in less-established scholars. I would specifically like to thank Duane Davis for inviting me to my first Merleau-Ponty Circle in Asheville in 2010. That was when I met several people, in addition to Duane, who continue to be significant to me personally and intellectually: Frank Chouraqui, Bernie Flynn and Judith Waltz, Véronique Fóti, Mauro Carbone, Stephen Watson, Galen Johnson, Gail Weiss, Glen Mazis, and Helen Fielding. These are all scholars whose work and thought are a constant source of inspiration and guidance. One need only read them to witness a generosity and good politics of thought: a kind of thinking that allows room for more and even different thinking.
I would again like to thank Duane Davis for reading chapters of this volume in different stages of their development and giving me some vitally important suggestions. I also want to thank Cheryl Emerson for inviting me to the University of Buffalo in April of 2017. Some of the ideas from the talk I gave there, along with certain arguments I began in recent articles in Chiasmi International (“Separations and Symbolics” and “Lighten Up”), have developed into the present book. Cheryl’s comments on the talk were also invaluable. I finally offer my deep gratitude to my colleague, friend, and “constant ally,” Drew Dalton, whose influence can certainly be found in these pages too, and whose friendship has kept me from dark and given me light these many years.
This book is dedicated to the members of my beloved family, who, like my own breath and lungs, constellate my inner and outer worlds: Natalie, Violeta, and Zubin.
Introduction
T here is nothing about predictability that guards against unpredictability, nothing about it that guarantees the unpredictable will remain quiet. The predictable is not certain and does not exclude the unpredictable. Whereas the unpredictable intervenes in the predictable and interrupts the very scene in which its previous appearance would seem impossible. It ruptures. Referring to the notion formalized by set-theory ontology as the “void set,” Alain Badiou calls this rupture an “event.” 1 An event, he says, is a “pure inconsistent multiplicity.” 2 It means nothing in itself, but counters in dramatic fashion the existent thing that otherwise presents itself as coherent and unified, what Badiou calls the “count-as-one.” 3 If there is an event, in other words, the very conditions of existence, cohesion and unity, have been removed. Normality is perturbed, and a totally new space is opened up to rethink reality.
This is the context in which philosophies of the event are often positioned against phenomenology. The assumption is that phenomenology reorients incoherency to coherency, inconsistency to consistency, nonsense to sense, and therefore also closes itself to the truly abnormal aspect of events. According to Deleuze, though, Sartre comes closest to a philosophy of the event since he wants to think about “an impersonal transcendental field” that has “the form neither of a personal synthetic consciousness nor subjective identity.” 4 This exception is telling: a philosophy of the event does not exclude the transcendental per se. It does not, for example, exclude the transcendental conceived in terms of nihilation. Only when it is conceived in terms of an intention, whether subjective or bodily, does the transcendental exclude the event. A more acceptable transcendental, one that accords with the event, would be afield from intentionality in general. It would be totally outside the apparent object, the subject conceived as the person to whom the object appears, and even the bodily situation that conjoins the two aspects of appearing. An event would break from all forms of intentionality so radically that it cannot